Near Meeting

Posted on April 16, 2023 by sputterpub

One animal is ugly but benign.
The other is unwelcome beauty here.
Today I watched them nearly meet, and veer.

The house cat has a graceful soft design.
The young marsupial is slow and drear.
One animal is ugly but benign.
The other is unwelcome beauty here.

The cat kills birds – its shit and puke malign –
but possum feeds on ticks. The yard is clear
of possum scat – the cat should disappear.
One animal is ugly but benign.
The other is unwelcome beauty here.
Today I watched them nearly meet, and veer.

(English Madrigal)

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Muni Metro Benches

Posted on April 15, 2023 by sputterpub

They made the Muni seats too deep or high.
I see a lot of passengers whose heels
don’t reach the floor when sitting back. Now why
did some committee choose to so construct?
Although the rides are short, most riders I
examine are of shorter stature too.
This dangle isn’t good for knee or thigh.
The elderly will ache from ride ordeals.
A seated he-man seems a little guy.

(Magic 9)

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Murk Means Work

Posted on April 14, 2023 by sputterpub

I had a bout of clarity last week,
when everyone I love was liking me.
I knew it couldn’t last, and didn’t seek
extension – I just savored feeling free.
Alive to how life changes, constantly
inconstant, I espied approaching murk.
I can’t ignore what’s crazing separately
between us. That was nice. Now back to work.

(Huitain)

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Tentativity

Posted on April 13, 2023 by sputterpub

We speak again and neither utters ill,
but not about my life, my news, my pen.
I feel relief but now I wonder: will
we speak again?

I’m tired of her bigotry on men,
her tendency to flouncing quit or chill,
her failure to admit how she was then.

But we go back too far for me to kill
a lifetime of affection, knowing when
alone I can recover love, until
we speak again.

(Roundel)

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Spared (For Now)

Posted on April 12, 2023 by sputterpub

Aroused by corvid chorus yesterday,
I marveled at the raucous caws I heard.
There must have been a myriad at sway
above my yard. I like the ebon bird,
but not the clots of shit they leave behind
as they take flight. So I was gratified
that when they fled no defecant maligned
the redwood deck that carpets my outside.

Appreciating my good fortune then,
I raised my gratitude to where they roost.
The eucalypt that towers like Big Ben
and shades the yard and sprinkles nuts it loosed,
is standing up, root-strong, to storm mishaps,
and so far doesn’t threaten fell collapse.

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Saturday Sweet

Posted on April 11, 2023 by sputterpub

Last Saturday was relatively nice.
She didn’t criticize or “should,” the way
she has for ages. I heard no advice
last Saturday.

And that was why my heart began to sway
to softness. My defenses then were ice
exposed to summer sunlight’s noon display.

The time I spent did not exact a price
that I could not afford – my sole dismay
anticipated grief, to be precise,
last Saturday.

(Roundel)

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Paschal Plants

Posted on April 10, 2023 by sputterpub

I note each year how Easter coincides
with Passover, for both are lunar-based.
They’re paschal holidays without divides
between solemnity and joy, embraced
with feasts of food and tables flower-graced.
I gather irises and lilies now
in photographs – with stalks my walks are faced –
receiving sights and scents these days allow.

(Huitain)

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Anyone But Her

Posted on April 9, 2023 by sputterpub

I have an extra ticket to the show.
It needs a senior user, female please.
My oldest friend’s the one I’d choose to go,
except of late she’s grown obnoxious. She’s
been acting harsh, entitled, to degrees
offensive and vexatious. I’d prefer
to want to ask, and then the impulse flees.
I’d rather go with anyone but her.

(Huitain)

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Old Dreaming

Posted on April 8, 2023 by sputterpub

I’ve grown too old for heavy sleep most nights,
and I no longer medicate with pot,
so now the dark is filling up with flights
of mundane dreams I formerly forgot.
The action’s never scary, and it’s not
a forecast or apparent prophecy.
It’s little issues, items lost, a lot
of errands. I don’t think anxiety
is evidenced by dreaming imagery.
But I’ve a friend who tries to sort my self.
She seems to burn to catch and counsel me,
yet she’s the one with Xanax on her shelf.

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Kneek

Posted on April 7, 2023 by sputterpub

I must have tweaked my left knee recently,
for daily it protests a certain bend.
As usual it’s port that bothers me –
my starboard side has been my better friend.
I notice symptoms of debility –
a bode of failure or a warning trend?
Recording, I’ll give ink without a frown,
as long as I don’t let it take me down.

(Ottava Rima)

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